Death Penalty for Baby in India

On Wednesday 17th May, a group of doctors in Rohtak, India decided that a 10-year-old rape victim should be permitted to have an abortion. The girl was very unfortunately and inhumanely raped by her stepfather, who has since been arrested and detained pending a full police investigation.

This young girl is more than 20 weeks pregnant, due to give birth in less than four months yet the death penalty for her baby is being permitted. Indian law supposedly does not allow terminations after 20 weeks unless doctors certify that the pregnant woman's life is in danger and both lives cannot be simultaneously saved. A former pro-abortion obstetrician gynaecologist of 37 years’ experience, Dr Anthony Levatino, said, “I have terminated 100s of pregnancies in my career to save women’s lives and I didn’t have to kill a single baby in the process.”

Rebecca Kiessling is founder of American-based pro-life organisation Save The 1 and co-founder of Hope After Rape Conception and Embryo Defense. She has made a statement that “In this case of a rape victim petitioning the high court for a late-term abortion it must be emphasised that it is the baby who revealed the rape and it is ultimately the baby who protects her and delivers her out of the abusive situation, which often times include being neglected by her own mother.”

The Indian Express said that the victim’s mother wanted the rapist to be set free as he had apologised and that she had other children to take care of, “The girl’s life is destroyed but what will happen to my other children? I need to think about their future too.” Mrs Keissling emphasised, “Why should a rape victim deserve less protection than other women?” So, the abortion takes place, strips a person of their right to life yet the rapist himself may not be punished? This young girl needs as much medical and emotional support for as long as she needs and her rapist needs punished and prosecuted, killing her baby will not solve anything.

India has a deep-seated cultural preference for sons that has led to millions of female babies being intentionally killed through abortion. The late-term abortion ban is not only to prevent this gender selective inequality but it is also to protect women worldwide from harm because late-term abortions are proven to be even more dangerous for the woman.

Elizabeth Ann M. Johnson, M.D. is an Associate Scholar for the Charlotte Lozier Institute described late-term abortions, “These particularly gruesome surgical techniques involve crushing, dismemberment and removal of a body from a woman’s uterus” and Dr Levatino, “You know you did it right if you crush down on the instrument and a white material runs out of the cervix. That was the baby’s brain and then you can pull out skull pieces.” He speaks of the “little face that comes back and stares back at you.”

Mrs Keissling, who herself was conceived in rape, went on to say, “There is no petition or articles advocating for the death penalty for all of these rapists in India, yet that is precisely what will be given to this innocent child. I’m sure if there were an effort to advocate for the death penalty for rapist then there would end up being outrage. India has a serious problem with rape and there is a problem with scepticism against rape victims, unless they are more than 20 weeks pregnant and then they are instantly believed and offered abortion.”